††††† Muckraker learnt
that Temba Mliswa was inconsolable this week whenimmigration officials at
Gatwick Airport booted him out of Britain.

††††† The deportation is
rather puzzling for a man who brags to havingsuccessfully recruited students
from over 60 countries from the Caribbean,Africa, the Far East, United
States, Middle East and Europe to study in theUK.

††††† When some
students recruited by his agency, Education UK Ltd, weredeported recently,
Mliswa said they had failed to answer questions put tothem by British
immigration officers.

††††† "I could not have given them my brains. It's
not my fault that theyfailed," he said at the time.

††††† Strangely,
when given 63 questions to tackle by the same officials, hemanaged to answer
only five. What did he have to hide?

††††† The Herald managed to make the
whole episode look as if Mliswa was thevictim of British
brutality.

††††† "Mr Mliswa voluntarily refused to enter Britain after
being subjectedto what he described as inhuman political interrogation by
the BritishImmigration officials for his pro-Zanu PF sentiments," it
helpfully said.

††††† We sincerely hope that Mliswa was not deported
under a Section 8notice, requiring him to leave all his possessions behind
in the UK to belooted by Labour Party officials. And we wish him well in
having to live -like the rest of us - under a government that has made all
prospects of abetter life very remote indeed.

††††† Having met only
limited success in his campaign to "decolonise" schoolnames Aeneas
Chigwedere thinks he can engage in further populist demagogueryby
instructing the Harare city council on what names they should adopt fortheir
suburbs. Fortunately, the council has firmly rejected his
pretensions,pointing out that the current names are part of Harare's
history. This wasrevealed last week when the Herald carried a report of city
councilproceedings.

††††† Chigwedere's efforts to get Highfield
changed are particularlyobjectionable. The township is indelibly associated
with the nationaliststruggle, and whatever its origins, will be remembered
by its current name.As the council properly pointed out, it is up to Harare
residents to changethe names of streets and suburbs if they want to, not
ministers whose partywas decisively rejected by the voters of the
capital.

††††† One reason residents excluded the Libyan-backed Zanu PF
from any rolein municipal governance was because its leaders have a tendency
towardsdiverting public attention from real issues of civic management to
spuriousnationalist grandstanding. Chigwedere may get away with this sort of
facileattention-grabbing among his peasant constituents in Hwedza but it
won'tsucceed in Harare.

††††† We recall his attempt to get the plaque
on the statue of DavidLivingstone at the Victoria Falls changed. What
happened to that initiative?We heard the National Monuments Commission
rejected it. And what of theschools? Which ones have actually changed their
names? The Herald this weekcarried a front-page picture of Prince Edward
pupils attending a Russianeducational exhibition. The Prince of Wales'
emblem was prominentlydisplayed on their blazer pockets and is likely to
stay there, we gather.

††††† As things stand, Chigwedere's end-of-term
report should read: "Easilydistracted. Could do better. Should concentrate
more on his core subjects!"

††††† We were intrigued by an editorial
comment in the Herald on Saturdaysaying the arrest of war veterans leader
Andrew Ndlovu was "long overdue".

††††† "His utterances and ultimata,
par-ticularly against the Asiancommunity, could have been misinterpreted as
government policy had actionnot been taken," the paper said.

†††††
While genuine war veterans are highly respected, it said, "among themare
rogues who abuse their standing in society to pursue selfish
personalinterests. These are the ones who think they are above the law and
can threaten and harass people, particularly minorities, at
will."

††††† Ndlovu's "careless" utterances could have unnerved Asians
had he notbeen arrested, the Herald said. "Threatening Asians and whites
will not helpdevelop Zimbabwe."

††††† This is now the official line
as police move against squatters onunlisted farms and conservancies. The
government has been told that no foodaid will be forthcoming until the rule
of law is restored and productionresumed on farms. So there is a concerted
official effort to portray thosecontinuing to threaten farmers and
businessmen as "rogue elements". Farmersare being invited to plant a winter
crop. Much-publicised evictions aretaking place.

††††† But the
obvious question: If the Herald feels the arrest of Ndlovu was"long
overdue", why didn't it say something earlier? We don't recall anyeditorials
headed "Ndlovu must be arrested". Why didn't it condemn Ndlovu'sremarks
about Asians at the time he made them? After all, war veteranschairman
Patrick Nyaruwata had the courage to speak out.

††††† The answer is
equally obvious. Because farm invasions, harassment andracism were official
policy. Because this policy was directed by the highestin the land and
nobody was allowed to oppose it. As we all know, the warveterans were
instrumental in that policy. Those favouring a restoration ofthe rule of law
- and there were some in Zanu PF and the cabinet - wererendered
helpless.

††††† "Rogues abusing their standing in society to pursue
selfish personalambitions" have been a prominent feature in the recent wave
of land grabs.Some of the rogues are senior officials of the regime. They
are the ones whonot only "think they are above the law", but have every
reason to feelsecure in that assumption. They have been "threatening
minorities" withimpunity, making "ultimata" to all and sundry. The world can
be forgiven for"misinterpreting" their incontinent pronouncements as
government policy.

††††† Then, on or about May 10, there was a change. As
the seriousness of the impending crisis began to make itself felt and the
international communitymade it clear there would be no assistance so long as
the ruling partypersisted in sabotaging the means of production, the
government relented andtook a number of steps that could be interpreted as
restoring the rule oflaw and productivity. The official press was quickly
whipped into line.

††††† The Herald suddenly decided evictions were a
good thing. The next dayit congratulated the government for arresting
Ndlovu.

††††† But the question remains: If the Herald believed Andrew
Ndlovu'sarrest was long overdue, why didn't it say so earlier? Here we see
in oneeasy lesson how a captive press is next to useless as a public
watchdog, butvery good at getting into line when told to do so.

†††††
By the way, why does the government constantly have to reassuresettlers it
will not violently evict them? Who asked the government to dothat? All the
government was asked to do was uphold the law, something itproved incapable
of doing. Violence is something Zanu PF has never eschewed.And what about
the manpower the police said they would have difficultymustering for
evictions? Has that problem suddenly been solved?

††††† The Herald on
Tuesday carried an editorial headed "Tourism's rawmaterials inexhaustible".
It was about the "sights and sounds" of Zimbabwe'splentiful
wildlife.††††† The same day the Scotsman carried a story confirming reports
publishedin this paper that up to 60% of game on private conservancies had
beenpoached. The article was headed "Voiceless victims facing extinction"
(SeePage 15). It included details of the fate of the black rhino. Hopefully,
theparty of gullible American tour operators that are currently in the
countrywill read it.

††††† And the story about the commercial farmer
spraying poison on hismaize? It turned out to be infected with Diplodia
which is extremelydangerous for both human and animal consumption. Let's
hope the new owner,Mrs Loice Mugadzaweta who made the complaint, discovers
what is edible andwhat is not before she sells the rest of the
harvest.

††††† We liked the picture in the Sunday Mail last weekend of
PresidentMugabe greeting some of the Zanu PF Youth League national assembly.
Not asingle one can have been under 30. Some looked older than
that.

††††† Just how youthful are members of Zanu PF's Youth League? And
whatexactly do they do, apart of course from allowing themselves to be
misled bya septuagenarian despot?††††† Mugabe told the "youths" that he
would not tolerate any more "nonsenseand rubbish" from the MDC over the
issue of talks. He then proceeded toprovide some nonsense and rubbish of his
own. He affected to believe that acampaign of mass action would involve the
use of "nazi power", a remark theSouth African people might have taken
exception to in the 1980s when massaction worked for them. And he said he
was happy that service chiefs"announced out of their own judgement that they
would not salute anyone whowanted to reverse the gains brought by
independence".

††††† So how come they are still saluting him? He has
presided over awholesale reversal of the gains of independence. The fall in
per capita GDP,the collapse of employment opportunities and living
standards, the erosionof the health service, and looming mass starvation.
What "gains" are those?

††††† Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans are
migrating abroad because thereare no job prospects under his malignant rule.
Zimbabwe is holding out thebegging bowl to its former rulers because it is
no longer able to feeditself. And the service chiefs are still saluting
him!

††††† We were reassured to hear that they made their statement "out
of theirown judgement". But we would still like to know the details. As for
thecomparison with the election of George W Bush, we were interested to
hearthat Bush, a Republican, "got into power through a judgement by the
SupremeCourt that is dominated by Republicans".

††††† "So who was
actually elected between Mugabe and Bush?" the presidentasked.†††††
Let's ask him this. How many Americans were refused the right toregister as
voters or turned away at polling stations? How many Democratswere told they
couldn't campaign in certain parts of the US because theywere no-go areas
for the opposition? How many were killed by Republicanthugs?

††††† As
for the Supreme Court being dominated by Republicans, whatconclusions are we
supposed to draw? That Bush had a packed Supreme Court onhis side and that
this was unfair?

††††† We entirely agree. We are opposed to packed
Supreme Courts wheneverand wherever they appear. They enable unsuitable and
unpopular rulers toextend their purchase on power by judicial collaboration.
That is manifestlynot in the public interest and Mugabe was quite right to
say so.

††††† Muckraker has over the years been keeping readers alerted
to a numberof scams, emanating mostly from Nigerians, which seek to
ascertainsomebody's bank account details as a means to clearing out the
contents.They invariably offer a share in a large sum which they claim to be
holdingon behalf of a deceased account holder or a parastatal corporation.
Thelatest effort however appears to be a variation on this theme.†††††
It reads as follows: "Dear Sir. I am Justice Mugato, minister of
solidminerals under the government of President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe.

††††† "Your cooperation and advice is of great importance for I
would liketo invest my money in any lucrative or money-yielding venture in
yourcountry of which you will be part of this investment proposal as an
activepartner following your professional advice toward the pursuit. I
wouldpersonally like you to look into real estate and property
management,purchase of firm or industry.

††††† "Please sir, I need to
be educated professionally due to my lowknowledge for any investment outside
my country, Zimbabwe. Kindly furnishand equip me with details about one.
Best regards. Justice Mugato."

††††† However low our opinion of cabinet
ministers may be and while it istrue they need to be educated about how
investment can be encouraged, we cansafely assume this letter doesn't
emanate from anybody here - unless he hasbeen keeping a very low profile. In
fact it has all the hallmarks of theNigerian money mafia. "Solid minerals"
is the give away. We don't have anyliquid ones here so we don't make the
distinction Nigerians do betweenliquid and solid minerals. And the choice of
Mug. as the first three lettersof the minister's name is an obvious
artifice.

††††† Congratulations to the Herald for its scoop on Wednesday
revealing thenews that Britain had lifted its travel warning on Zimbabwe. It
was thepaper's lead story. But what they didn't tell us was the date on
which thetravel warning was actually lifted: March 27, nearly two months
ago!

I HAVE
received a number of highly indignant letters complaining about thebehaviour
of France and the United States in allowing President Mugabe andhis
delegation access to the recent United Nations special session onchildren.
While I sympathise with the writers, the governments in questionwere not
really to blame.

Both France and the United States, like other countries,
are bound by theGeneva Convention and UN headquarters agreement which permit
leadersunhindered access to the world body in New York. The international
communityin the late 1940s, when these agreements were entered into, would
never havegranted New York the privilege of hosting the new organisation set
up toreplace the Geneva-based League of Nations if open access had not
beenguaranteed.

Film footage of the youthful Fidel Castro
arriving there to advertise his1959 revolution and Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev banging his shoe on hisdesk while British premier Harold
Macmillan was speaking testify to theuniversality of the UN 40 years ago.
The same is true now. The US doesn'thave to like its visitors. But it is
obliged to host them.

The French ambassador to Harare, Didier
Ferrand, was careful to point outthat Mugabe's delegation did not stray from
the international departure areaof Charles de Gaulle airport during their
stopover in Paris. In other wordsthey did not officially enter France.
France adhered to the EU resolutionson Zimbabwe, the ambassador politely
told us.

The same would have been the case if the delegation had
passed throughGatwick, as was originally intended. Claims by Stan Mudenge
and spokesmanfor Zimbabwe's permanent mission to the UN Emmanuel Gumbo that
Mugabe andhis party could go wherever they liked in Paris or the US were
clearlymisleading. In New York, their 10-day visas limited them to a 25-mile
radiusof the UN headquarters on the East Side. This meant they had
theless-than-endless vistas of Long Island, upstate New York and New
Jerseyopen to them!

Just as the state media was being ordered to
celebrate an effective end tothe sanctions regime, the EU parliament debated
tightening measures againstZimbabwe. With one eye on the forthcoming G8
summit in Canada next monthwhere Africa's much-touted Nepad project will be
discussed, a motion calledon President Thabo Mbeki, the project's main
architect, to show"wholehearted and consistent support for the principles of
democracy, humanrights and the rule of law, and accordingly to demonstrate
the quality ofleadership that befits the powerful and crucial regional
position of SouthAfrica".

As this related to the Zimbabwe
situation, it sounded rather like a rebuke!In calling for intensification of
sanctions against Mugabe's government,MEPs asked member states to extend the
EU's list of banned Mugabe associatesto encompass all key figures. These
include vice-presidents, all ministers,senior military, police and
intelligence officers, and leading businessmenwho have helped to bankroll
Zanu PF. They also want sanctions extended totheir respective spouses and
children.

The parliament called for the publication of details
pertaining to assetsalready identified and frozen as a result of the policy
of targetedsanctions and the examination of Zimbabwe's debt situation and
drawingrights in international financial institutions.

This was
hardly the "end of sanctions". In fact, the state media's
prematurecelebrations may yet induce a more determined response by the EU
and US. Thedebate in the House of Lords on Tuesday evening, details of which
we carryon Page 4, reflects the strength of feeling on this issue. I don't
know forhow much longer Baroness Amos can go on claiming Zimbabwe is not a
test casefor Nepad when it manifestly is!

However, a word of
clarification here. While new EU sanctions may target thechildren of Zanu PF
leaders and may therefore affect their education, the USmeasures do not. The
proclamation signed by President Bush in Februaryapplies only to named
individuals and their spouses. The State Department isnot at liberty to vary
it so kids already there are unlikely to be affected.There have been some
misleading reports in this regard.

I meet diplomats on a regular
basis and I can assure you they are in nodoubt as to the strength of public
sentiment in Zimbabwe, reflected in yourletters and phone calls, on the
sanctions issue - particularly the boastsbeing made of sanctions-dodging by
ministers and their flunkies. But don'texpect any immediate breakthroughs
here. As South Africans came toappreciate in the 1980s, sanctions are rarely
swift or dramatic in theirimpact. They make themselves felt slowly and
steadily in all sectors of theeconomy.

The government is right in
saying they will impact on all of us. We mustface that fact. But the worst
aspect of all this is that, instead of takingsteps to remove the threat by
improving their standard of governanceincluding permitting the liberties
guaranteed in the constitution, ourrulers are by their everyday actions
ensuring that the noose around thecountry's neck is tightened. That is their
decision, not anybody else's.

††††† CLAIMS that President Robert Mugabe's government is evicting
farmoccupiers and tackling war veterans is a smokescreen to convince
theinternational community that there has been a return to the rule of
law,diplomats and farmers said this week.

††††† The government was
appearing to clean up its act to obtainurgently-needed food supplies they
said. But nothing was happening on theground.

††††† Diplomats
said the move was calculated to remove charges oflawlessness from
international deliberations on Zimbabwe. Commercial FarmersUnion executives
reported the only movement they could see was of peoplesettled on farms
belonging to prominent persons.

††††† The government has been
orchestrating a blaze of publicity aroundevictions it claims to be making of
settlers on delisted farms andconservancies, particularly in Masvingo. This
comes ahead of a key regionalsummit on the food crisis to be held in South
Africa next month. Zimbabwe isanxious to whitewash its battered reputation
to get aid flowing.

††††† "There is no evidence that the so-called
evictions are really takingplace," said a senior Western diplomat. "I think
government is just tryingto hoodwink the international
community."

††††† The CFU said yesterday there had been no visible
movement of settlersfrom its members' farms. CFU Masvingo regional chairman
Mike Clark said"information to hand is that there is no relocation of
settlers frommembers' farms. We are aware that police and army officers have
visitedselected farms in the area owned by prominent persons," he said.
"Some ofthe settlers on those farms have begun to drift onto adjoining
farms."

††††† Settlers on Nuanetsi and Eaglemont ranches in Mwenezi
had refused tomove, he said.

††††† CFU president Colin Cloete
said while instructions had been given atgovernment level, there was no
evidence of this translating into action atthe district
level.

††††† "There was talk but no one really walked the talk," he
said.

††††† Cloete said the situation on the farms and conservancies
continued todeteriorate with officials handing out Section 8
notices.

††††† It is understood the land committee chaired by
Vice-President JosephMsika is keen to see farmers planting wheat to avert
shortages next year andgive the impression that normalcy is being restored
in agriculture.

††††† A turnaround in government's public position
was detected at the timeof President Mugabe's meeting with United Nations
secretary-general KofiAnnan in New York on May 9. This was followed by
strong statements a weeklater by Home Affairs minister John Nkomo
threatening to crack down onillegal land occupiers and "rogue" war veterans.
The state media immediatelywelcomed the evictions and the arrest of militant
war veterans' leaderAndrew Ndlovu. The role of minorities in developing the
country wasemphasised after two years of attacks on whites.

†††††
Nkomo said police would act against any farm invaders, be they
seniorgovernment officials or ordinary people.

††††† Sources said
the government was using the evictions to give a falseimpression to the
world that it was working to address state-instigatedlawlessness that has
gone largely unchecked since 2000. The United Nations(UN) Standing Committee
on Humanitarian Affairs and Southern AfricanDevelopment Community (Sadc)
leaders gather for the crisis meeting on hungerin Johannesburg on June
6/7.

††††† The meeting is important to Harare because Zimbabwe is on
the verge ofa humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions due in part to
faminecaused by state-sponsored farm invasions which have undermined
theonce-thriving agricultural sector and sabotaged food production. At the
sametime the country is facing a severe drought.

††††† It is
estimated over seven million people - about 54% of thepopulation - would by
the end of the year be surviving on food relief.

††††† Western aid
organisations are currently battling to tackle widespreadhunger. Britain has
since last year provided £10 million while the UnitedStates and other donors
have provided substan-tial sums in humanitarianassistance.

†††††
The issue of regional famine, which is also afflicting Zambia,
Malawi,Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique has of late assumed greater
urgency.

††††† Last week UN resident coordinators in Southern Africa
as well asrepresentatives from other UN bodies and Sadc gathered in Victoria
Falls todiscuss the issue.

††††† UN resident representative in
Zimbabwe Victor Angelo, who convened themeeting, said there was need for
urgent action to prevent disaster.

††††† "Countries should react now
in order to save money, save lives and tolimit human suffering," he
said.

War vets challenge govtAbeauty MangeziWAR
veterans have vowed to oppose government's moves to evict resettledfarmers
saying they will defend the land occupiers.

"As war veterans we are not
happy with the way people are being evicted fromthe farms and we will defend
them," said Agrippa Gava, an official of theWar Veterans
Association.

"We strongly believe that these people are protected by
the law and for themto be evicted is disturbing."

He said if
government wanted to relocate people to other farms, this couldbe done while
they were still on the acquired farms.

"Since government wants to
transfer people to alternative farms, they shoulddo so while the people are
on the presently occupied farms instead ofsending them back to their
original home areas," he said.

"No one should go back to his original
home and we stand in full support ofthe newly-resettled farmers. Our
position is that people should not beevicted."

Gava said he had
not come across a single farm where the programme had beenproperly
implemented.

"Throughout the country, people are not properly settled
and their evictionwill worsen the situation. We now want the programme to be
done in aprofessional manner," he said.

War veterans interviewed
expressed hostility to the eviction exerciseclaiming they had been used by
government.

War veterans' secretary-general Endy Mhlanga said the
land redistributionprogramme started as a chaotic exercise but was later
enacted into law.

"No one should be evicted from the farms that they
are currently occupying,"said Mhlanga. "Their stay on the farms is legal.
Evicting them means theredistribution of land will be taken as a political
gimmick by many people."

Responding to a statement in the state media
that war veterans did not haveany role to play in the land redistribution
programme, Mhlanga said therewere some individuals who did not understand
the role of war veterans in theexercise.

"Whoever wrote that
article is grossly ill-informed about the functions ofwar veterans in the
land redistribution programme. War veterans are part ofgovernment and they
are on the land committees," he said.

††††† Harare -
Allegations that top politicians and ruling party elite tookconfiscated
white-owned land intended for the landless and impoverished were"patently
stupid and indecent", a government spokesperson said on Thursday.

†††††
However, ruling party officials were not excluded from a programme
toallocate seized land to some 54 000 new black commercial
farmers,Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said in a statement.

†††††
A report compiled by farmers that was distributed on Thursday saidhundreds
of senior officials, ruling party supporters, military, police
andintelligence officers, and even journalists in the state media
wereallocated plots ranging in size from a few hectares to farms of
thousands ofhectares.

††††† No prominent opposition party leaders or
outspoken government criticsappear on the list.

††††† The farmers who
compiled the list said they did not want to beidentified for fear of
reprisals. The information was drawn from governmentnotices on land
allocations and was backed by testimony from whitelandowners forced from
their properties who had contact with new occupants.

††††† Moyo described
the report as propaganda aimed at tarnishing thecountry's land reform
programme.

††††† 'Colonialists last one to grab land'

††††† "There
is no land grab in Zimbabwe by anyone. The last time land wasgrabbed it was
done by murderous and thieving British colonialists," hesaid.

†††††
Though government and ruling party officials had been allocated land,they
were not given special preference, nor could they be denied landbecause of
their affiliations to the state or ruling party, Moyo said.

††††† Other
seized land was being given to 210 000 black families, he said.

†††††
Mugabe has repeatedly insisted the programme to confiscate 95% of landowned
by the nation's 4 000 white farmers, mostly the descendants of Britishand
South African settlers, was intended to settle unfair land
ownershiplingering from the colonial era, which ended in 1980.

†††††
Previous efforts at land reforms have been plagued by mismanagementand
corruption.

††††† The new land seizures, coupled with ruling party
militants' occupationof white-owned farms has driven hundreds of white
farmers and tens ofthousands of their black workers off the
land.

††††† Disruptions on the farms, along with erratic weather, have
led tosevere food shortages.

††††† The opposition Movement for
Democratic Change accused Mugabe ofstepping up land seizures around
parliamentary elections in June 2000 toshore up his waning support. -
Sapa-AP

††††† HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Seven members of a religious sect
inZimbabwe - including a 4-year-old boy - died after drinking tea suspected
tohave been poisoned, police said Thursday.

††††† Forty-seven other
people were taken ill after drinking the brew onSunday.

††††† Police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said foul play was suspected. Hesaid traces of
pesticide were found in containers used to make tea for agathering of the
Johanne Marange Apostolic Church near the town of Nyazura,120 miles east of
Harare.

††††† The sect, which has followers across Zimbabwe, bases its
teachings onChristianity and on traditional African beliefs in ancestral
spirits and thepowers of tribal healers.

Zimbabwe's dairy herd drops by 30%Stanley
JamesZIMBABWE'S dairy herd has dropped by 30% because of the high costs
ofstockfeed and effects of government's land redistribution programme
whichwill result in milk supply shortages, an official in the sector said
thisweek.

The chief executive of the National Association of Dairy
Farmers (NADF), Robvan Vuuren, told the Zimbabwe Independent that the
national dairy herdcontinued to decline.

"There has been a sudden
drop in the number of dairy farmers in the past twoyears," he
said.

Van Vuuren said there were still prospects for the industry
despite theon-going problems in agriculture.

"We as farmers have
not been spared the ongoing effects. However, it isimportant to note that
there has been a drop from 314 dairy farmers to 310,"said Van
Vuuren.

Commenting on the state of the dairy industry, the country's
largest rawmilk processing firm Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd chief executive
AnthonyMandiwanza said there was concern about the diminishing milk supply
base.

"We are concerned about the erosion of producer viability and
the continualdiminishing milk supply base," said
Mandiwanza.

These developments have far-reaching adverse consequences
for the industry,both in the short and long term."

He said the
industry was working on a plan to hold the current supply basefrom further
erosion and to ensure annual growth of 10% per annum in thecoming three
years.

Mandiwanza said that the initiative would resuscitate the
dairy herd by over30% by 2003, create a strategic plan for procurement of
stockfeed andcapital equipment as well as broaden the milk supply
base.

65% drop in tourism receiptsStanley
JamesZIMBABWE'S once-vibrant tourism industry has been hit by a 65% drop
inearnings, falling from US$240 million in 1996 to US$80 million by
December2001, official figures have revealed.

Statistics on tourism
trends compiled by the Central Statistical Office andpresented to delegates
who attended the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe(HAZ) annual congress in
Nyanga last week showed the industry was throwninto severe crisis because of
the inappropriate macro-economic policies ofPresident Robert Mugabe's
government.

The figures showed that from 1996 to 2002, tourism
arrivals plummeted from2,4 million to 1,7 million per
annum.

"Factors which have contributed to the decline in the industry
includeinconsistent fuel supplies for most of the past few years leading to
loss ofconfidence to the domestic and regional self-drive markets," said
RainbowTourism Group chief executive Herbert Nkala.

Nkala said due to the downturn in the tourism sector,
the hospitalityindustry was severely affected as most of the players were
downsizingoperations.

According to the figures, the hospitality
industry has continued toexperience a decline marked by persistent downward
trend of productivity byan average of 10% on an annual
basis.

Inflows from holiday and business travel declined from
US$239,2 million in1996 to US$81,4 million in 2001.

"The solution
concerning prospects of the recovery for the industry requirea holistic
approach. The solutions will not come from government alone, inas much as
the problems did not come from government alone," said
Nkala.

"Conversely, the solutions will not come from the private
sector alone in asmuch as the private sector cannot completely absolve
itself from havingcontributed to the problems."

Analysts have
predicted that the tourism industry, which had emerged as oneof the leading
foreign currency earners contributing about 40% to GrossDomestic Product,
would shrink by over 45% by year end if the prevailinghostile economic
climate continued.

"We are of the view that the current economic
constraints will pose achallenge in as far as the prosperity of the sector
is concerned," saideconomic consultant, John Robertson.

"In fact
we anticipate the industry to register a drop of about 45% by theend of the
year."

He said that the current political instability would threaten
the resurgenceof the entire industry.

Mozambique eclipses ZimbabweGodfrey
MarawanyikaZIMBABWE has been overtaken by Mozambique as South Africa's
biggest tradingpartner in the region.

Mozambique is one of Africa's
fastest growing economies and this has seenSouth Africa turning east from
her northern neighbour which has occupied theprime trading position since
independence in 1980.

Investments worth more than R25 billion have
been channelled into Mozambiqueby South African companies. Zimbabwean
companies have also been leaving indroves to set up in Mozambique where
opportunities abound.

Addressing a special National Assembly session
in Maputo recently, SouthAfrican President Thabo Mbeki said that Mozambique
had become South Africa'slargest trading partner.

"With R25
billion investment by South African parastatals and privatecompanies, South
Africa has become Mozambique's largest foreign investor,"said
Mbeki.

Trade statistics for 2001 from South Africa show that in 2001
South Africanexports to Mozambique were valued at R5,72 billion, Zimbabwe
R5,38 billionand Zambia R4,89 billion.

South Africa has taken
over all the breweries in Mozambique. Mozambique'slargest brewer, Cervejas
de Mocambique (CDM), in which South AfricanBreweries has a 78% stake, has
bought the country's only other brewery,Laurentina.

BHP Billiton,
the world's largest resources company, has as aluminiumsmelter - Mozal - in
Mozambique.

The tourism sector is another area where the South
Africans are big playersand recently the ABSA group took over Banco Austral,
formerly BPD (PopularDevelopment Bank). South Africa's biggest sugar
producer Illovo, has vastoperations at Maragra sugar project in Mozambique.
Cellular servicesprovider Vodacom has also targeted Mozambique as a new area
of investment.

Zimbabwe's decliningpolitical and economic environment
has been largely toblame for this shift.

WITH the failure of all Zimbabwe's rain-fed crops and the
decimation ofcommercial farming the crisis that food security experts have
been warningof since early last year is now well and truly upon
us.

Now only at the outset of the dry season the country looks parched.
Zimbabwehas only a quarter of the food it will need for the next 12 months,
UNagencies have said. They are busy scurrying around in a bid to
alerttraditional donors to the severity of the problem.

In addition
to Zimbabwe, other countries in the region such as Zambia,Malawi and Lesotho
are likely to be severely affected. So is Swaziland whileBotswana and
Namibia are more able to cope despite shortages.

In addition to the
impact of drought, Zimbabweans are having to cope withthe effects of a
man-made crisis stemming from an ill-conceived landredistribution programme
which has driven skilled producers off the land. Atthe same time customary
forex earners such as tourism have been badlyaffected by the reputation for
violence and instability the ruling party'slawless land campaign has
bestowed upon the country.

The United Nations Development Programme's
resident representative VictorAngelo, who is leading efforts to get food aid
flowing, complains that "thekey players don't seem to be paying attention".
They are preoccupied withAfghanistan, Angola and the Middle East he
says.

He is missing the point. The developed world knows only too well
that amassive humanitarian crisis is looming in Southern Africa. Comparisons
arebeing made with Ethiopia in 1984. As it is, Britain, the EU and the
UnitedStates, demonised by the state propaganda machine as "the enemy", have
beenleading food relief efforts.

But there is resistance in
traditional donor states such as Britain, the US,Canada, the Netherlands,
Scandinavia, France and Germany to helpingPresident Mugabe out of a crisis
entirely of his own making. For whileMugabe has declared the current food
shortages a national disaster there islittle doubt that in much of the world
he is seen as the disaster.

There is a pattern to the drought currently
afflicting the region that isfar from climatological. Countries with poorly
developed infrastructuressuch as Lesotho and Mozambique have suffered
most.

Those with endemic corruption and poorly managed economies such as
Malawiand Zambia are also badly affected. But those with well-managed
economiesand governments that work in harness with well-organised
agriculturalsectors such as Namibia, Botswana and South Africa are suffering
least. Theyhave surpluses they can call upon.

Zimbabwe is among those
that should have withstood the crisis because it hasa record of food
self-sufficiency thanks to a well-developed agriculturalsector. That has now
been effectively sabotaged just when we needed it most.The Stalinist
campaign to declare commercial farmers a class enemy and toliterally steal
their land and implements has created Southern Africa's onlystate-created
disaster. It has not only destroyed commercial agriculture andinduced famine
but also rendered tens of thousands of farm labourers joblessthus laying the
ground for social dislocation on a massive scale.

The West is being asked
to give generously in its response to the unfoldingdisaster.

The only
safety valve is emigration. That at least should bring home thecrisis to
complacent neighbours such as South Africa that have countenancedmisrule
north of the Limpopo.

President Thabo Mbeki's spokesman said this week
South Africa cannot turnits back on Zimbabwe - something it was never asked
to do! A principledstance would have been sufficient.

The Rev Jesse
Jackson says the international community should not punishinnocent
Zimbabweans because of policy differences with their government.

This
woolly thinking needs firm rebuttal. Just because President Mugabe isholding
the country to ransom doesn't mean UN agencies should remain silenton why a
potential catastrophe is stalking the land. The last thing Zimbabweor
southern Africa need is more blind aid.

What they need is the kind of
governance that prevents disasters of thissort from occurring. Malawi is one
of the biggest recipients of British aid.What has it got to show for it? How
much aid has Zimbabwe received sinceIndependence and what is its per capita
GDP now compared to 1980?

Of course, in a humanitarian crisis of this
kind ordinary people - even ifthey did swallow Zanu PF's deceitful
propaganda on land - should not bepunished by starvation. But those such as
Mr Angelo, twisting the arms ofWestern donors and reminding them of their
moral responsibility, have a dutyto point out the connection between bad
governance and food shortages. Thatmight catch everybody's
attention.Until they do that they should not expect an enthusiastic response
to theirappeals.

Zimbabwe proves a difficult test
case for NepadDumisani MuleyaAS African and G8 leaders prepare to meet
over the New Partnership forAfrica's Development (Nepad) in Canada next
month, analysts say the Zimbabwecrisis provides a test case for the
project's peer review mechanism.

The movers of the African renaissance
plan - modelled along the lines of theMarshall Plan for Europe after World
War II - in March set up the peermonitoring system under Nepad's "Democracy
and Political GovernanceInitiative" (DPGI) to enforce compliance with agreed
democratic andgovernance standards.

The DPGI lists a series of
obligations and actions, which conform to Nepadprinciples. Some of these
include the need to fix terms of office forelected leaders, upholding human
rights, separation of powers, the rule oflaw, political and civil rights,
freedom of expression and press freedom.

Analysts say Zimbabwe, which
falls far short in most if not all of theserequirements, provides an
efficacy test for the peer review mechanism.

Nepad, seen as
an African initiative for African problems, seeks to wooUS$64 billion in
annual investment and trade for the continent fromindustrialised countries
on conditions of democracy and good governance.

Essentially, Nepad is an
amalgamation of South Africa's MillenniumPartnership for African Recovery
Programme (MAP) and Senegal's Omega Plan.Out of the merger, the New African
Initiative was formed. It was laterapproved by the OAU in July last year in
Lusaka and endorsed by the G8 inGenoa, Italy. Its blueprint was finalised in
October last year.

South Africa, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt
initiated Nepad. Theproject's secretariat is currently based in Midrand,
South Africa.

Countries join Nepad by signing up to the laid-down
principles. They alsohave to agree to external peer review - which is key to
the project'ssuccess - every three years. There are four categories of
signatories to thedeal: Nepad-compliant, aspiring to Nepad compliance but in
need ofassistance, wilfully non-compliant, and post-conflict societies
requiringspecial reconciliation and reconstruction.

Many meetings
have been held on the project so far. African leaders areexpected to attend
the African Development Bank's symposium on Nepad onMonday on the eve of the
bank's annual meeting in Addis Ababa.

Although Zimbabwe is not yet a
member of Nepad, its highly contagiouscrisis - which is destabilising the
entire region - could sabotage theproject.

South African President
Thabo Mbeki, the principal Nepad architect, hasrepeatedly stressed the
significance of establishing a credible andeffective peer checking system to
ensure African leaders break with pastrecords of dictatorship and corruption
to adopt democracy and goodgovernance.

Mbeki, who has admitted
failure on Zimbabwe, last week emerged from talks onNepad with Nordic
leaders in Oslo bubbling with satisfaction over theirendorsement of his
plan.

The following day, he also left Downing Street rubbing his hands
with gleeafter British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Canadian premier Jean
Chretienpledged support for Nepad at the forthcoming G8 summit in
Kananaskis,Alberta, on June 27/29.

Observers say having failed to
restrain President Robert Mugabe in the pasttwo years, Mbeki's strategy now
is to quarantine the Harare regime toprevent the Zimbabwe contagion spilling
over.

UK under-secretary of State Baroness Amos last week provided an
insight onthis approach.

"Nepad officials have expressed concern that
Zimbabwe is being used as atest case for the process," Amos said. "African
leaders have argued that thecontinent should not be judged on the actions of
just one country."

However, critics say although Zimbabwe is not a
make-or-break try-out forNepad, it is certainly a hurdle, which cannot be
removed by quarantining or"quiet diplomacy".

While Mbeki and other
Nepad promoters wax enthusiastic about the upcomingCanada meeting, analysts
maintain Zimbabwe - undergoing a man-made crisis -remains a steeplechase for
them.

Professor John Stremlau, head of international relations and
co-director ofthe Centre of Africa's International Relations at the
University of theWitwatersrand, says Zimbabwe provides a litmus test for
Nepad ideals.

"Nepad will face some early tests of the peer review,"
Stremlau said. "Thesewill indicate whether the experiment in building
international cooperationfrom below can succeed. How Zimbabwe's crisis is
resolved is the mostobvious test."

Although G8 leaders rejected
Mugabe's recent disputed re-election andactually warned Nepad was at risk
due to his purported victory, they nowseem to have bought wholesale Mbeki
and Nigerian President OlusegunObasanjo's claims the intransigent Zimbabwean
leader has been reined-in.

Statements by Blair and Chretien in London
last week as well as the remarksby Canadian High Commissioner to South
Africa, Lucie Edwards, indicate adramatic shift in Western leaders' views on
the issue.

Blair was hopeful about Nepad's prospects after meeting Mbeki.
He said:"It's very, very important that we focus on this as a key theme for
theupcoming G8 summit. I am reasonably optimistic at this stage that we
willmanage to get a good deal out of the summit."

But after the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Coolum, Australia,in March Blair
noted: "If there is any sense in which African countriesappear ambivalent
towards good governance, this is one thing that willundermine the confidence
of the Western world in helping them."

Edwards - in line with Blair,
Chretien and Mbeki's new bid to whitewash theZimbabwe situation - last week
tried to air-brush Zimbabwe from the G8picture, saying African leaders could
not act on Mugabe before the recentpresidential election because the Nepad
peer review system was not then inplace. She said the mechanism was
beginning to work as indicated by Mbekiand Obasanjo's support of the
decision to suspend Zimbabwe from theCommonwealth.

That move,
prompted by the rigging of the recent poll, saw Nepad'ssupervision system
"passing its first test", Edwards said.

However, in an editorial last
week, the Mail & Guardian joined the ZimbabweIndependent in rejecting
this.

The Johannesburg paper said claims that Mugabe has been contained
weredeceitful.

"Mbeki's message (to Nordic leaders) was that he and
Obasanjo have broughtMugabe to heel, and that Nepad's pledge to African
democracy for Westerneconomic assistance remains on course," it said.
"Presumably because theyare anxious for an African success story, European
leaders, including Blair,are colluding in this lie."

The paper went
further: "The most grotesque case of wilful blindness was astatement by
Edwards, that the 'dangerous corner' of Zimbabwe has beenpassed 'relatively
smoothly', that 'the first test had been overcome' andthat Mbeki and
Obasanjo's acceptance of Zimbabwe's suspension from theCommonwealth had
saved the day."

The M&G said despite this pretence, facts on the
ground showed the situationhas not changed from what it was before the
election and, if anything, wasgetting worse. Human rights groups say
violence is still continuing and thearrests of journalists have reached new
levels.

"With corrupt and brutally repressive governments in place,
passivelyendorsed by South Africa and the West, no amount of aid will make
adifference. It is little short of ominous that Nepad is being laid on
afoundation of lies and the international betrayal of the rights of
ordinaryAfricans," the paper concluded.

Director of the Public
Service Accountability Monitor at Rhodes Universityin South Africa, Colm
Allan, said Nepad's peer review would fail as long asit was left in the
hands of African leaders who regard each other asrevolutionary comrades and
not democratic peers.

"This mechanism will fail in its task if reviews
happen only periodicallyand rigorous criteria - and the consequences for
deviant governments - arenot spelled out," Allan said. "It seems that
African heads of state will beleft to judge their own performance. The
proposed peer review shows thatNepad leaders do not yet recognise
accountable governance as a relationshipbetween governments and
citizens."

Instead of solidarity reviews, he said, independent monitors
from civilsociety were needed to supervise the leaders.

Research
director at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, HenningMelber,
recently pointed out what the problem was.

"They (African leaders) try to
sell this commitment (to democracy and goodgovernance) in return for massive
material support from donors," Melbersaid. "But while they open their hands
for aid, they are closing their eyeswhen the need for peer review
arises."

Henning said double standards such as those shown by Mbeki and
Obasanjo whenthey endorsed Mugabe's re-election as "legitimate" in their own
countriesand then upheld the Commonwealth observer team report - which said
the pollwas rigged - were terribly damaging. "They are disloyal to the
politicalvalues they claim to cultivate and protect," he said. "By backing a
despoticleader they betray the temporary hope they fuelled in this
initiative(Nepad)."

Critics say whether Nepad backers like it or not,
Zimbabwe remains aroadblock for them and far from passing any test, they
have yet to provetheir mettle.

"Investors will put money into viable
nations but those nations must in turnmake sure they deal with the conflicts
on their doorstep," said Comfort Ero,of the International Crisis
Group.

Chakaodza -
who was pushed out from the government-controlled Herald afterMoyo was
appointed minister in July 2000 - blasted the minister after policepressed a
fourth charge against him in connection with stories whichappeared in his
newspaper last week.

"My own assessment is that this is sheer
harassment," Chakaodza said. "Ithink the police are being used by Moyo to
settle personal scores. He is aloose cannon but he must not be allowed to
get away with it."

Police last week arrested Chakaodza together with
two reporters for storiesabout government's purchase of anti-riot gear and
prostitution. They weredetained overnight and appeared in court facing
charges under the Access toInformation and Protection of Privacy
Act.

On Tuesday, Chakaodza and his entertainment editor Fungayi
Kanyuchi werecharged again for the article on prostitution under the
Censorship andEntertainment Control Act.

Yesterday, the police
charged Chakaodza and his reporter Farai Mutsaka forthe fourth time over a
story, which appeared in the May 12 editionconcerning staff changes at
Zimpapers and ZBC.

Zanu PF militia confront Msika over
allowancesLoughty DubeANGRY Zanu PF youth militia last Friday confronted
Vice-President JosephMsika in Nyamandlovu and demanded payment for their
role in campaigning forthe party in the presidential election.

The
angry youths, who numbered about 30, cornered Msika as he was about tojoin
other dignitaries for refreshments after a donation ceremony hosted
byShearwater Adventures at Nyamandlovu Secondary school.

The
youths, led by one with a bandaged arm, charged at Msika as he waschatting
to journalists after the presentation - despite Matabeleland Northgovernor
Orbert Mpofu's attempts to block the youths from meeting
thevice-president.

The youths, who forced their way past the
security cordon, told Msika thatthey had been ignored several times by Mpofu
and senior party officials whenthey went to demand money they were promised
for campaigning for Zanu PF.

"We want the $18 000 each we were
promised for campaigning for Zanu PF andsome of us were injured campaigning
for the party," said the youth leadershowing off his bandaged arm to
Msika.

"We do not want to hear the nonsense Zanu PF officials are
constantlytelling us."

"You failed to give this young man even $1 000 for going to
hospital to havehis arm treated despite working hard for the party during
the election,"said Msika.

"We were used," said the injured
youth.

"We worked for you and you should pay us because we sacrificed
our livescampaigning for the party in dangerous conditions but some of the
people whowere supposed to pay us put the money to their own use," the youth
said.

The aggressive youths were cooled down by Msika who pulled them
aside andengaged them in a private conversation.

The militia in
Bulawayo has refused to disband until the youths are paid infull the money
they were promised for campaigning for the ruling party.

Zanu PF used
the militia before the hotly disputed election to unleash areign of terror
against opposition Movement for Democratic Change supportersin both urban
and rural areas.

In Nkayi 13 youth militia members and their leader,
former dissidentRainfall Msimanga, are standing trial for allegedly
murdering headman JamesSibanda amidst claims from human rights organisations
that there could bedetails of other human rights abuses uncovered in the
district. Msika, aftera 30-minute discussion with the youths, said he was
going to look into theirproblems before coming back to
them.

However, he refused to accept a petition written by the youths
containingtheir grievances.

The Zimbabwe Agricultural
Welfare Trust (ZAWT) was established recently inBritain to provide a focal
point for international support for thebeleaguered farming community. It was
registered with the UK CharitiesCommission and is accountable to the
Charities Commission of England andWales.

The organisation has
two Zimbabwean and seven British trustees.

Tutu - who of late has
expressed concern at the Zimbabwe situation includingPresident Robert
Mugabe's disputed re-election - is the patron of the trust,while
humanitarian activist James Maberly is the chair.

The veteran
anti-apartheid campaigner and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winnerrecently said
Mugabe had "gone bonkers in a big way" and criticised theSouth African
government for endorsing the Zimbabwean leader's controversialelection
victory.

Maberly was born in Kenya and was brought up in Zimbabwe. He
now works fromhis studio in Suffolk holding regular exhibitions across the
UK and travelsperiodically to Zimbabwe.

"Our mission is to
undertake the task of alleviating the hardship andsuffering amongst members
of the farming community of Zimbabwe, namelyfarmers, farm workers, others
connected with agriculture and the families ofall such persons who have been
directly affected by civil unrest," said ZAWTadministrator, Laoe
Watson-Smith.

"We undertake to provide assistance with and promotion
of physical andmental health, education, financial needs and general welfare
of theagricultural community," he said.

Watson-Smith said
Zimbabweans and the international community couldill-afford to ignore the
plight of local farmers and their workers.

"Agriculture is the
bedrock of the ailing Zimbabwean economy, yet theagricultural community at
all levels has borne the brunt of these events,"he said "Gangs of
self-styled 'war veterans' have invaded farms, intimidatedand assaulted
farmers and their workforce, appropriated or destroyedlivestock and
property."

He said Zimbabwe's violent and haphazard land reforms have
created ahumanitarian crisis of horrific proportions.

"Apart from
the documented cases of torture and killings on Zimbabweanfarms, numerous
labourers have been rendered homeless, jobless and withoutaccess to
education and healthcare as farms have had to be abandoned andbusinesses
closed," Watson-Smith pointed out.

However, the ZAWT said it
recognised the need for fundamental land reform inZimbabwe and the right of
all Zimbabweans to democratically determine theirfutures.

"ZAWT
has no political allegiance or agenda," said Watson-Smith. "Its aimsare
purely humanitarian in that by supporting the individual people,families and
communities who make up the human side of Zimbabweanagriculture, we may
contribute to keeping a key part of Zimbabwean society,as well as its
economy, alive."

Tories call on EU to extend sanctionsVincent
KahiyaBRITAIN'S opposition Conservative Party this week called on the
EuropeanUnion to extend travel sanctions to cover Zimbabwe's First Lady
Grace Mugabeand spouses of targeted politicians.

During question time
in the House of Lords on Tuesday the Tories complainedthat Grace Mugabe
could still come to London for shopping under existingrules.

Tory
ex-minister Lord Blaker asked at question time: "Am I right inbelieving that
the sanctions that were imposed by the European Union on MrMugabe and his
cronies in respect of foreign travel and foreign assets donot apply to the
spouses and families of those people?

"If so, should not those
sanctions be extended, or are we content that MrsMugabe could still come
here and shop at Harrods?"

Junior Foreign Office minister Baroness
Amos in reply confirmed that currentEU sanctions did not apply to spouses
and children but said European foreignministers will next month consider
extending the measures.

"The General Affairs Council will clearly
wish to return to that. It willdiscuss Zimbabwe at its next meeting in
June," she said.

Lord Howell of Guildford deplored President Mugabe's
visit to New York toattend a United Nations conference on children and
Police CommissionerAugustine Chihuri's visit to France to attend an Interpol
conference.

"My Lords, while the children in Harare are starving and
apparently huntingin dustbins for food, is it correct that Mr Mugabe has
been attending a UNconference on child poverty in New York?" he
asked.

"Is it also correct that the blood-stained chief of police, Mr
Chihuri, hasbeen attending a police conference in Lille?"

"Who
permitted these sanctioned individuals to travel? Why were they
notapprehended and sent back to their own country at the very least, and
whatdo the sanctions mean if they allow people who have committed or
sanctionedatrocities to wander around the world at will?" he
asked.

Baroness Amos replied that international treaty obligations
had allowedMugabe to attend the recent UN conference in New York and his
police chiefto attend the Interpol meeting in Lille.

The EU
imposed targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe in February at a meeting inBrussels
following the expulsion from Zimbabwe of Pierre Schori, head of theEU
observer team. The sanctions include a ban on Zimbabwe's ruling
elitetravelling to the EU, the freezing of financial assets held by
politiciansin the EU and an arms embargo.

The United States has
also imposed travel restrictions on named associatesof Mugabe and their
spouses but these do not cover children

Bennett complains of CIO threatsBlessing
ZuluMOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) member of parliament for
ChimanimaniRoy Bennett says he has been threatened by Central Intelligence
Organisationoperative Joseph Mwale in the presence of the
police.

Mwale is said to have openly threatened Bennett after he had been
summonedto Chimanimani police station last week by a Chief Superintendent
Mabvundato discuss disturbances on his farm and in the area. Zanu PF
supporters haveinvaded the farm and are disrupting farming
operations.

"As we were talking, Mwale openly told me that he was a
man of action andnot words," said Bennett.

"He said he could make
things happen and that I was going to hang." Bennettclaims at the same
meeting on May 16 Mwale told him he was going to ensurethat his farm was
designated.

"On Saturday (May 18) I was served with a Section 8
notice but the letterhad no official stamp on it," said
Bennett.

The situation is still very tense on Bennett's farm where
the majority ofthe settlers are members of the army's 3 Brigade based in
Mutare.

Mwale and war veteran Kainos Tom "Kitsiyatota" Zimunya are
alleged to havekilled two MDC activists, Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika
in the run-upto the 2000 parliamentary election. The two activists were
petrol-bombed intheir car near Murambinda while campaigning for MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangiraiin Buhera.

Justice James Devitte asked the
Attorney- General to investigate the matter.

The AG's office this
week said they had asked police to investigate thematter but nothing had
been done.

Bennett claimed members of the police, the CIO and the
army have beenharassing MDC officials at their offices and they were now
seeking a peaceorder.

"As the democratically elected MP, I would
also like to raise the issue ofarmy and police PISI details who have been
entering the MDC officesthreatening those present with death and abusing
them with racial threatsagainst me," Bennett said in a letter written
earlier this month to theMember in Charge of ZRP Chimanimani, Chief
Inspector Chogugudza.

"I would like to reiterate that I would like
nothing more than a cordialrelationship between myself as the MP, the
membership of the MDC andgovernment de-tails who should be maintaining an
unpartisan stance in theinterest of the nation," the letter says

EU parly refuses to endorse Mugabe
re-electionGodfrey MarawanyikaTHE European Union is likely to widen its
sanctions net following theEuropean Parliament's resolution not to recognise
President Mugabe'sre-election.

European parliamentarians (MEPs) who
met in Strasbourg last week to debatethe situation in Zimbabwe unanimously
supported calls for tougher sanctionsagainst Harare.

The MEPs
18-point resolution will be delivered to European Union ministersand the
United Nations Security Council. In the resolution the MEPs saidthere was a
need to re-run the election.

They confirmed the EU's earlier verdict
that the presidential election ofMarch 9/11 was deeply flawed and was not
free and fair.

"The European Parliament reiterates its view that the
presidential electionof March 9/11 2002 was deeply flawed and that the
circumstances in which itwas held were certainly not free and fair and,
accordingly, does notrecognise the legitimacy of the Mugabe regime," the
resolution said.

"The EU Parliament insists that the situation in
Zimbabwe remains a highpriority for the EU and wider international community
and that all effortsshould be made to bring about a benign change in the
situation, includingthe raising of the Zimbabwe issue by EU member states in
the UN SecurityCouncil."

The MEPs also expressed their concern at
the breakdown of law and orderwhilst applauding the suspension of Zimbabwe
from the Commonwealth.

They demanded that treason charges levelled
against Movement for DemocraticChange leaders be
dropped.

"Parliament demands that charges of treason brought against
MorganTsvangirai and Welshman Ncube be dropped, that all draconian
legislationadopted by the government in recent months to restrict freedom of
speech,freedom of the media and democracy in Zimbabwe be rescinded and that
thoseinvolved in acts of murder and intimidation be brought to
justice.

"The EP calls for a fresh presidential election to be held
within 12 months,according to internationally-accepted norms under the
auspices ofindependent international observers," the resolution
said.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was asked to show
consistent support forthe principles of democracy, human rights and rule of
law and regionalleaders were asked to sever ties with Harare.

The
MEPs called for the extension of the EU's list of banned Mugabeassociates to
include key figures such as vice-presidents, all ministers,senior military,
police and secret service commanders and leadingbusinessmen who have helped
to bankroll Zanu PF or benefited from itscorrupt activities.

"The
list of banned Mugabe associates should also include their respectivespouses
and children, as they also spend illegally-acquired money abroad,"the MEPs
said.

They also called for publication of details pertaining to
assets alreadyidentified and frozen as a result of targeted sanctions and
drawing rightsin international financial institutions.

Mike Mackenzie could not believe his eyes when a motorcade of
gleaming Mercedes escorted by motorcycle outriders roared up the drive of his
Zimbabwean farm carrying President Robert Mugabe. Mr Mackenzie, one of 4,000
white farmers whom Mr Mugabe's government is intent on dispossessing, found
himself playing host to an impeccably courteous president who feigned surprise
at the news that the farm had all but been brought to a halt. "He was very, very
pleasant, relaxed, warm to us, the whole family. We took pictures of him with
us, he signed a map of the farm in my office and I showed him around," said Mr
Mackenzie, 68. The impromptu visit to Clydesdale farm near Banket, 55 miles
north west of Harare, was unprecedented in the two years since Mr Mugabe
launched the invasions of white-owned land.

The farmer's first warning of the presidential visit came when
he walked into his office and found Joseph Made, the agriculture minister,
sitting behind his desk. Mr Made said Mr Mugabe was on his way. The motorcade
arrived, carrying Mr Mugabe, his wife, Grace, Peter Chanetsa, the provincial
governor, and a posse of armed security men en route to a nearby lake. "He
greeted us warmly," said Mr Mackenzie. "I was surprised, but pleased to see him.
I took it as a sign from God. I took him around the farm . . . I didn't tell him
of our troubles because I wasn't asked." Along with 2,000 other farms,
Clydesdale was invaded by Mr Mugabe's supporters last year and about 40 are
occupying its 3,000 acres. Last week, Mr Mackenzie was served with an eviction
notice giving him three months to leave.

Throughout the crisis Mr Mugabe has consistently used white
farmers as a convenient scapegoat and urged his supporters to seize their
properties. Yet as he toured the farm he appeared oblivious to the destruction
wrought in his name. He wanted to know why a 140-acre field had not been planted
with wheat, desperately needed to avert Zimbabwe's disastrous food shortage.
Grace Mugabe, described as "charming" by Mr Mackenzie, intervened before he
could answer. "She pointed to this small field of cotton and said, 'That's why'.
" The occupiers now decide what crops can be planted when, and the cotton, which
they had sown, had prevented Mr Mackenzie from growing his usual 175 acres of
wheat. Mr Mugabe cast an approving eye over Clydesdale's 160-acre citrus orchard
and then saw that no fields had been cleared for a tobacco crop. He asked why.
Mr Mackenzie tactfully replied that, as the government had given him three
months to leave, "we didn't know whether we would still be here to grow another
crop". Mr Mugabe was introduced to Mr Mackenzie's wife, Liz, and their white
farm manager. "He was interested in everything," said Mr Mackenzie. "He wanted
to know our family history and I told him my father arrived from Scotland in
1925, went broke and went back there, then went broke in Scotland and came back
here in 1938. We have been here ever since."

Harare - Journalism was never the safest line of work in
Zimbabwe, but since President Robert Mugabe enacted a new media law just days
after his messy re-election, the job hazards are growing. Eleven journalists
from the private and foreign press have been arrested in the 10 weeks since the
law took effect - more if you count those who were just questioned by police and
those who have been arrested more than once. Nine are being prosecuted under the
euphemistically titled Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and
the parade of journalists through police stations shows no sign of ending. A
further worrying development is a crackdown by the Zimbabwean authorities on
local journalists providing critical reportage for foreign publications.
Minister of Information Jonathan Moyo is known to be intent on identifying such
journalists and shutting them down. A Zimbabwean journalist has been suspended
after writing for the Mail & Guardian. It is suspected that the Zimbabwean
High Commission in South Africa relayed the journalist's name to the Zimbabwean
authorities.

On Wednesday Andrew Meldrum, a correspondent for Britain's The
Guardian, among others, and Zimbabwean journalist Lloyd Mudiwa of the Daily
News, were remanded out of custody until May 30. They face charges of publishing
falsehoods under a provision of the act called "abuse of journalistic
privilege". Their case stemmed from a front-page story in the Daily News,
alleging that a woman had been beheaded by Zanu PF supporters. The story was
later proved false and both the Daily News and The Guardian published
corrections. Another Daily News reporter, Collin Chiwanza, was arrested over the
beheading story, but a judge tossed out the charges against him. Daily News
editor Geoff Nyarota was detained for four hours on Monday and charged for the
same story. He was charged on April 15 with fabricating information, for a story
alleging the registrar general had manipulated election results. Another editor,
Bornwell Chakaodza of the weekly The Standard, and his reporter, Farayi
Kanyuchi, were arrested for the second time in less than a week on Tuesday over
a story claiming that police were having sex with prostitutes instead of
arresting them. Their first arrest was related to the story, the second related
to the accompanying rear shot of a prostitute wearing a thong.

The Foreign Correspondents' Association has filed a lawsuit
asking the supreme court to declare the most restrictive parts of the law
unconstitutional violations of free speech. But the court, which was expanded
last year to include four new judges considered loyal to Mugabe, ruled last week
that the matter was not urgent, meaning the case could languish for months in
the court docket. Lawyers for local media are coordinating with the foreign
correspondents to challenge the law from different angles, but in the meantime
they expect to continue their weekly trips to the magistrate's court. The new
law gives Moyo sweeping powers to decide who can work as a journalist and to
discipline journalists through a new commission. It also limits foreign
ownership of media in Zimbabwe and bars foreigners from working as
correspondents based permanently here. Moyo, already known for his venomous and
personal attacks on journalists, cleared any doubts about his view of press
rights when in the state-run Herald he called press freedom "only a small and
subsidiary part" of constitutional guarantees of free expression. The
government's crackdown has drawn condemnation from regional and international
press rights groups. The Paris-based Reporters without Borders earlier this
month declared Zimbabwe one of the 10 worst countries in the world in which to
work as journalists - ranking it alongside war zones like the West Bank and
Afghanistan.

President hands land seized from whites to croniesBy David
Blair, Foreign Staff(Filed: 24/05/2002)

Almost 300,000 acres of prime land seized
from white farmers in Zimbabwe has been handed out to President Mugabe's closest
allies, including 10 cabinet ministers, seven MPs and his brother-in-law. Land
has also gone to key officials who supervised the widely condemned presidential
polls in March, when Mr Mugabe won re-election after a violent campaign.
Zimbabwe's army commander, its police chief and the civil servants placed in
charge of the land seizures have rewarded themselves with farms. Mr Mugabe's
land campaign, which targets 95 per cent of the 4,000 white farmers for
dispossession, is supposedly aimed at helping the rural poor.

Yet the launch of the Model A2 resettlement
scheme last November, designed to create a new class of black commercial farmer,
has sparked a scramble for land by Zimbabwe's elite. The winners names have been
listed in successive editions of the weekly Sunday Mail. Most have staked their
gains in the two months since the election. An analysis of these official lists
shows that almost half of Mr Mugabe's cabinet has been given land. Herbert
Murerwa, the industry and trade minister, has been awarded Rise Holm farm near
Arcturus, east of Harare. David Parirenyatwa, the acting health minister, has
been allocated Rudolphia farm in the same area. Swithun Mombeshora, the
transport minister, has won Ormeston farm near Lion's Den, north-west of Harare.
Vice-President Joseph Msika has been given a farm in the Umguza block in
Matabeleland North province, while Reward Marufu, Mr Mugabe's brother-in-law,
received Leopard's Vlei farm near Glendale, north of Harare.

Squatters invaded many of these properties
when they were owned by white farmers. Mr Mugabe refused to evict the occupiers,
but attitudes have changed since the farms were handed out to the black elite
and many of the squatters have been moved on, clearing the way for the new
owners. A member of the farming community said this sudden willingness to apply
the law was evidence of "cherry-picking" by the president's allies in his Zanu
PF party. "We wondered why the occupiers were being moved off and then we saw
who the new owners were. This is an effort to supplant a white face with a black
fat-cat face," he said.